WILW: WWF(E) No Mercy (N64)

On a recent episode of the Stone Age Gamer podcast we talked about our favorite multiplayer games thanks to a listener suggestion. One of the games I brought up was WWE No Mercy for the N64. Released in 2000 and developed by AKI/Asmik, No Mercy was the pinnacle of wrestling games. Everything that had come before had been training wheels. Some of those titles, which will be featured here eventually (looking at you Pro Wrestling and Fire Pro) were phenomenal games for their time and still hold up today. Others were ECW Hardcore Revolution. Regardless of quality though, I played them, a lot. This game though, this game was something I not only played but played with people. In the year 2000 I was in college and in college, we played video games. My roommate Dave had an N64, I had a PS2. In terms of overall gaming, I won handily. In terms of multiplayer wrestling games, Dave ruled the roost. My dorm played a ton of this game four player. We played a ton one on one. We played a ton solo. We created characters, some realistic most not, and competed for belts. We plagued over finding the right badass to beat our friends with. We thrilled at the ladder matches and inclusion of the backstage areas. Hell, we loved the story. It was, to be a bit corny, lightning in a bottle.

The game itself is not just good for a wrestling game. It is quite simply a well made game. The grappling system was tuned to perfection. The moves flowed together very well. The animations looked good. The graphics, for the time, were excellent. The Create-A-Wrestler, CAW, was incredibly deep. There was love put into this game and it was obvious. If you have never played No Mercy, track down an N64 and a copy of this game any way you can. It is a game I return to often as even though modern wrestling games have certain excellent qualities, none of them come even close to this one. If you can grab four friends, do it. I guarantee you will have a blast. And if you are the type to do so, play the modded version of this game. A dedicated group of fans have updated the code to include everything you know and love about today’s WWE. Check out some clips below and follow me on instagram and twitter, @geekadedan, to let me know what you think about No Mercy or any other of your favorite wrestling titles. Until then…